Yarn packaging and method of making



Aug. 13, 1968 A. BOUTONNET ,3

YARN PACKAGING AND METHOD OF MAKING Filed Dec. 20, 1966 INVENTOR ATORNEYS United States Patent 3,396,835 YARN PACKAGING A METHOD OF MAKINGAlexandre Boutonnet, Tassin, France, assignor to Societe Rhodiaceta,Paris, France, a corporation of France Filed Dec. 20, 1966, Ser. No.603,369 Claims priority, applicjgigg France, Dec. 22, 1965,

7 Claims. (01. 206-46) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OFINVENTION The principal form of wound arrangement of textile yarnsconsists of superimposed layers of yarns arranged parallel to oneanother on a rigid central support. These wound arrangements are knownunder various names, depending on the form of the central support and onthe method of winding: pineapple, cylindrical bobbin, doubletaperedcylindrical bobbin, cone, single-flange bobbin, cigarette, pirn or cop,and which are hereinafter referred to by the single term bobbin for thesake of simplicity.

In the case of man-made fibres, especially synthetic ones, in order toobtain a satisfactory winding on the support, it has been proposedpreviously to wind successive layers of coils of yarn at a tension whichdoes not appreciably exceed that of internal layers. This type of fairlyslack winding nevertheless provides bobbins of fairly lowcompressibility and on the one hand allows the yarn to relax, which isadvantageous in the case of synthetic fibres, especially polyesteryarns, which always have a slight tendency to contract or even have tobe made to contract and on the other hand facilitates unwinding andprevents the well-known fault of surge of reeling in weaving (i.e.formation of stripes due to variations in yarn tension). The coils,however, suffer from an undesirable tendency to sloughing such that theslightest shock will cause the package to collapse and becomeunserviceable. For the last mentioned reason, it is essential totransport these packages in special containers which are bulky and veryexpenesive since they are generally used only once. A particularlysuitable container is described in French Patent No. 1,004,725 which isentitled Containers for articles having an axial cavity, especiallysupports for textile yarns.

Preservation in a partial vacuum to protect substances from adverseinfluence of the atmosphere is a widespread technique, especially in thefood industry. Briefly, this technique consists in placing the materialsto be protected in a satchel formed of a flexible film of a suitableplastic material, reducing the pressure inside the satchel belowatmospheric pressure and finally sealing said satchel by any appropriatemeans.

It has been proposed previously to keep in a partial vacuum certaintextile materials to be preserved. For example, in order to maintain acertain degree of humidity in the yarn bobbins, especially those withartificial yarns, it has been proposed to place said bobbins in a rigid,i.e.

non-deformable, container and then produce a partial vacuum within saidcontainer. This method of preservation obviously does not provide asolution of the problem, i.e. to improve the packaging under shock andduring transport of the above bobbins, since these are free to movewithin their container.

It has also been suggested previously to pack under vacuum insideflexible plastic bags textile materials of high compressibility such asballs of knitting yarn. This process has essentially the effect offacilitating the storage of textile materials of low density but whichare particularly bulky by appreciably reducing the apparent volume ofsaid textile materials. Thus, when the ball of yarn is required for use,the bag is opened and the highly compressed material recovers itsinitial shape.

This method of preservation has not hitherto been proposed forapplication to the storage of textile yarns wound on a central support,using for this purpose flexible and deformable envelopes which willconform closely to the shape of these wound arrangements afterevacuation.

The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a simplebut effective means of economically and effectively preserving textilewindings with a central rigid support.

I have now found that this problem can be solved by placing the abovewound arrangements of textile yarn in a flexible bag of suitable shapemade from a gas-tight plastic material, setting up a pressure belowatmospheric pressure inside said bag and sealing it.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION The present invention thus provides a process forthe production of a package of textile yarn, which comprises placing awound arrangement of superposed layers of the textile yarn arrangedparallel to one another on a rigid central yarn support in a flexiblegas-tight envelope of plastic material, reducing the pressure insidesai-d envelope below atmospheric pressure and closing said envelope sothat the inside of it is below atmospheric pressure.

The present invention also provides a package of textile yarn consistingof superposed yarn layers arranged parallel to one another on a rigidcentrally disposed yarn support surrounded by a flexible gas-tightenvelope of plastic material, the pressure inside said envelope beingbelow atmospheric pressure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the accompanying diagrammaticdrawing the only figure represents a cross section through a package ofthe invention in front elevation.

Unlike known methods, preservation in a partial vacuum of woundarrangements in the form of bobbins in accordance with the presentinvention has the essential function of imparting suflicient cohesion tothe various layers of yarn, without, however, either disorganizing therelative arrangement of each of these layers, or modifying appreciablythe apparent volume of said wound arrangements. The simple solutionprovided by the present invention has the effect of preventing layers ofyarns sloughing and thus rendering possible the successful storage andtransport of wound arrangements of low compressibility, an effect whichcould not be anticipated a priori.

As will be shown hereinafter, textile yarn packages in accordance withthe invention can be conveyed without any particular precaution, andespecially without risk of deterioration, while otherwise possessing theadvantages of conventional wound arrangements. In carrying out theinvention, recourse may be had to the same basic techniques as in thefood industry. In order to produce a vacuum, hell or suction teatmachine may be used, the envelope may be closed either by applyingfasteners or by welding. Manual or automatic techniques may be used,depending on the material or equipment available. Machines which extrudea gas-tight film directly round the wound arrangement may equally wellbe used, followed by creation of a vacuum and immediate closure to formthe envelope.

The envelope of plastic material in the process of the present inventionmay be made of any of the packaging films currently used in the foodindustry, for example polyamide film's, polyvinyl chloride films,polyvinylidene chloride films, polyester films, polyolefin (e.g.polyethylene) films and the like.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The manner in which the inventioncan be carried out and the advantages which result will be seen from thfollowing examples.

Example 1 By means of a conventional frame, a sized polyethyleneterephthalate yarn 1, of 65 denier/ 33 filaments and 1250 S t.p.m., isplaced by cross-winding on a deformable cylindrical card support 2 ofapproximately 55 mm. diameter. (Winding tension 2 grammes). Theresulting double-tapered cylindrical bobbin 3 contains 900 g. of yarn.(This is a bobbin currently used for the manufacture of curtain voiles).The yarn is shrunk by steaming for approximately 60 minutes at 130 C.which produces a degree of contraction of yarn on the bobbin ofapproximately 11%. The diameter of the bobbin is 12.5 cm.

This bobbin is then placed in a polyvinyl chloride envelope 4 which isclosed on three sides, taking care t fold one portion 5 of the envelopeinto the interior of the card cylinder 2 at one end only. The thicknessof the polyvinyl chloride envelope may be from 0.05 to 0.15

By means of conventional vacuum equipment, the pressure within the bagis reduced to 660 mm. of mercury and the fourth side of said bag is thenheat-welded to produce seam 6.

Following this operation, no distillation of the size deposited to theyarn is observed.

The resutling bobbin is compact and has appreciably the same dimensionsas before it is sealed in the evacuated envelope.

In order to demonstrate the advantages of the present invention thefollowing tests were carried out:

(a) With the package produced as in the above example (designated asbobbin A), and

(b) With another bobbin (designated as bobbin B) produced in the sameway as bobbin A, but without packaging according to the presentinvention.

(i) Impact strength.This is evaluated by taking each bobbin in its axiswhich is at right angles to the floor, and allowing it to drop on to thefloor from a height of approximately one metre; this characteristicillustrates the resistance to deformation and also the ease oftransport, handling and storage of the bobbins.

(ii) Unwinding tensin.This is measured by means of the RottschildTensotron.

(iii) Number of breaks.-The number of breaks is measured per unit weightof unwound yarn.

(iv) Surge 0f reeling.4 shaft armure satin fabric is woven with acetateyarns in the warp (this warp consisting of alternating black and whitesections) and the yarns to be tested in the weft; stripes appearing inthe fabric are evaluated visually.

stant, differing little from that of (A).

1 Test performed with bobbin A in the closed envelope. 2 Before llSlIlgthe bobbin A, one side of the envelope is cut and atmosphone pressureallowed to be restored for at least five minutes.

Each of the above tests was carried out with five bobbins of type A andfive bobbins of type B.

Example 2 The vacuum envelope of polyvinyl chloride is produced as inExamples 1, but this time using a cross-wound arrangement on adeformable card support of 36 mm. diameter, containing approximately 1kg. of bright cellulose acetate yarn, denier/18 filaments, twisted to1200 twists per metre (bobbin for voiles).

After wet-steaming, the diameter of the bobbin is ap proximately mm.

A compact package is obtained which is very resistant to impact, but hasthe same properties (unwinding tension, number of breaks per kilogrammeand surge of r eling) as those of a similar bobbin which has not beensealed in an evacuated envelope in accordance with the invention.

Although the present invention is described herein with particularreference to specific details, it is not intended that such detailsshall be regarded as limitations upon the scope of the invention exceptinsofar as included in the accompanying claims.

I claim:

1. A process for the production of a package of textile yarn, whichcomprises placing a fairly slack wound arrangement of superposed layersof textile yarn arranged parallel to one another on a rigid central yarnsupport in a flexible gas-tight envelope of plastic material, reducingthe pressure inside said envelope below atmospheric pressure and closingsaid envelope so that the inside of it is below atmospheric pressure.

2. A package of textile yarn consisting of fairly slack superposed yarnlayers arranged parallel to one another on a rigid centrally disposedyarn support surrounded by a flexible gas-tight envelope of plasticmaterial, the pressure inside said envelope being below atmosphericpressure.

3. A package according to claim 2, in which the yarn is man-made.

4. The process as claimed in claim 1 wherein successive layers of coilsof said yarn are at a tension which does not appreciably exceed that ofinternal layers.

5. The package as claimed in claim 2 wherein successive layers of coilsof said yarn are at a tension which does not appreciably exceed that ofinternal layers.

6. The process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the pressure inside saidenvelope is reduced to below about 660 mm. of mercury.

7. The process as claimed in claim 1 wherein said envelope is closed byheat welding.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 6/ 1923 McCrosson. 7/1966 Gottilyet al.

MARTHA L. RICE, Primary Examiner.

